Trafalgar was the one who broke the silence. Answering the question that hung over before.
"I've been thinking," he said, voice steady. "About everything around me. About this world. About what's been happening to me." His gaze didn't leave her. "About you too. In part."
The words settled between them.
"That's why I'm here," he continued. "In Salca. The message said there was something here."
Nothing followed.
The Veiled Woman remained seated by the window, still as she had been since the moment he sensed her presence. The silence that came after his confession wasn't heavy, but it was deliberate, stretched thin like a held breath.
Trafalgar exhaled slowly.
Maledicta loosened in his grip, then dissolved into mana, the blade vanishing without sound or trace as it returned to his inventory. He turned away from the window and walked back toward the bed, each step unhurried. When he reached it, he sat down, posture straight, hands resting on his knees as if grounding himself.
